slim
06-05-2006, 08:36 AM
We Americans will not forget what people like Wang Dan and others who lost their lives did for the pursuit of liberty and democracy in Tiananmen Square 17 years ago. Your bretheren in Hong Kong and Macau remember too.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060604/wl_asia_afp/hongkongtiananmen_060604193803
Tens Of Thousands Gather For Hong Kong Tiananmen Vigil
By: Mark McCord
HONG KONG (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people gathered for Hong Kong's annual candlelight vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen square massacre, in the only official commemoration of the crackdown on Chinese soil.
While organisers claimed 44,000 people had congregated at the city's Victoria Park to mark the 17 anniversary of the killings, numbers appeared down on last year's 40,000 turnout. There were no attendance estimates given by police by 10:00 pm (1400 GMT).
"The first year feelings were very strong but this year feelings aren't so strong because 17 years is a long time and it doesn't mean as much to people any more," said Nike executive Albert Liu, who joined the rally.
"That's a shame. We should support events like this to keep the memory of the brutality alive."
Hundreds, maybe thousands, were killed in the infamous Tiananmen Square massacre, which China justified as necessary to restore law and order amid a huge student-led pro-democracy protest.
The Chinese government, which refers to the massacre as an "incident," has repeatedly refused demands from dissidents and overseas governments to re-examine its position on the crackdown.
The event kicked off at 8:00 pm with a solemn ceremonial procession of a wreath to a four-metre (13-foot) Monument of the Martyrs of Democracy that had been erected for the vigil in the centre of the park.
Veteran pro-democracy campaigner Szeto Wah led the march that was accompanied by the strains of a Chinese funereal dirge.
To chants of "Long live democracy" a string of political figures urged support for the pro-democracy cause. The stage was adorned with banners that read "We will starve ourselves to death until you promise us democracy".
The highlight of the night was a recorded message from Deng Tse-lam, a leader of the Tiananmen Mothers action group of relatives of victims of the crackdown.
Her moving appeal for supporters to press China to reassess its position on the massacre was played over harrowing images of the bloody military operation projected onto a backdrop screen.
Organisers of the vigil used the occasion to boost support for pro-democracy organisations on the mainland.
"If you look at the situation in China now there is a lot of discontent and people are increasingly showing that," said vigil organiser and pro-democracy legislator Lee Cheuk-yan.
Firebrand pro-democracy legislator Emily Lau said earlier: "The candlelight vigil is not just for remembering the dead, but is also a show of support for a democratic and free China."
Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of China since 1997, was a British colony when the massacre happened.
It has held a vigil on June 4 every year since, usually preceded by a street protest on the weekend before. Last Sunday's march attracted an estimated 1,000 people.
Weeks after news filtered through of the brutal event, one million people took to the streets of Hong Kong in protest -- the largest civil demonstration ever seen in the city with roughly one in six of the population joining the protest.
In the past, the vigil has been used as a platform for topical political and human rights causes.
In 2004 some 82,000 people attended the vigil at a time when the city was still seething over Beijing's issue of a ruling that stymied hopes for swift democratic reforms in the territory. Weeks later more than 500,000 people took to the streets to protest the ruling.
Calls for China's reassessment of its role in the massacre have been one of several wedges dividing the political scene in Hong Kong.
Pro-democracy advocates for reform of Hong Kong's electoral process, which currently sees a small 800-member panel of Beijing-backed elites select its leaders, have long urged the local Hong Kong government to put pressure on China over the Tiananmen massacre.
A historic visit to China last year by Hong Kong legislators -- including those banned for supporting the Tiananmen protesters -- turned sour when Guangdong provincial Communist Party leader Zheng Dejiang snubbed them after they called for Beijing to rethink its stance on the crackdown.
Slim
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060604/wl_asia_afp/hongkongtiananmen_060604193803
Tens Of Thousands Gather For Hong Kong Tiananmen Vigil
By: Mark McCord
HONG KONG (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people gathered for Hong Kong's annual candlelight vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen square massacre, in the only official commemoration of the crackdown on Chinese soil.
While organisers claimed 44,000 people had congregated at the city's Victoria Park to mark the 17 anniversary of the killings, numbers appeared down on last year's 40,000 turnout. There were no attendance estimates given by police by 10:00 pm (1400 GMT).
"The first year feelings were very strong but this year feelings aren't so strong because 17 years is a long time and it doesn't mean as much to people any more," said Nike executive Albert Liu, who joined the rally.
"That's a shame. We should support events like this to keep the memory of the brutality alive."
Hundreds, maybe thousands, were killed in the infamous Tiananmen Square massacre, which China justified as necessary to restore law and order amid a huge student-led pro-democracy protest.
The Chinese government, which refers to the massacre as an "incident," has repeatedly refused demands from dissidents and overseas governments to re-examine its position on the crackdown.
The event kicked off at 8:00 pm with a solemn ceremonial procession of a wreath to a four-metre (13-foot) Monument of the Martyrs of Democracy that had been erected for the vigil in the centre of the park.
Veteran pro-democracy campaigner Szeto Wah led the march that was accompanied by the strains of a Chinese funereal dirge.
To chants of "Long live democracy" a string of political figures urged support for the pro-democracy cause. The stage was adorned with banners that read "We will starve ourselves to death until you promise us democracy".
The highlight of the night was a recorded message from Deng Tse-lam, a leader of the Tiananmen Mothers action group of relatives of victims of the crackdown.
Her moving appeal for supporters to press China to reassess its position on the massacre was played over harrowing images of the bloody military operation projected onto a backdrop screen.
Organisers of the vigil used the occasion to boost support for pro-democracy organisations on the mainland.
"If you look at the situation in China now there is a lot of discontent and people are increasingly showing that," said vigil organiser and pro-democracy legislator Lee Cheuk-yan.
Firebrand pro-democracy legislator Emily Lau said earlier: "The candlelight vigil is not just for remembering the dead, but is also a show of support for a democratic and free China."
Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of China since 1997, was a British colony when the massacre happened.
It has held a vigil on June 4 every year since, usually preceded by a street protest on the weekend before. Last Sunday's march attracted an estimated 1,000 people.
Weeks after news filtered through of the brutal event, one million people took to the streets of Hong Kong in protest -- the largest civil demonstration ever seen in the city with roughly one in six of the population joining the protest.
In the past, the vigil has been used as a platform for topical political and human rights causes.
In 2004 some 82,000 people attended the vigil at a time when the city was still seething over Beijing's issue of a ruling that stymied hopes for swift democratic reforms in the territory. Weeks later more than 500,000 people took to the streets to protest the ruling.
Calls for China's reassessment of its role in the massacre have been one of several wedges dividing the political scene in Hong Kong.
Pro-democracy advocates for reform of Hong Kong's electoral process, which currently sees a small 800-member panel of Beijing-backed elites select its leaders, have long urged the local Hong Kong government to put pressure on China over the Tiananmen massacre.
A historic visit to China last year by Hong Kong legislators -- including those banned for supporting the Tiananmen protesters -- turned sour when Guangdong provincial Communist Party leader Zheng Dejiang snubbed them after they called for Beijing to rethink its stance on the crackdown.
Slim